Why is it that one school can do a great fundraiser and another school doing the same thing can do awful? Here's a story that give you a clue to be able to answer that question.
Copyright (c) 2009 AIM Fundraising
Why can one school can doing a fundraiser have great results and another school doing the same thing can have pitiful results? Here's a story that will give you a clue to be able to see that the answer doesn't lie in the product they picked. It's something else altogether.
Once upon a time there were two schools with the same number of students; they both had to fundraise to pay for their expenses for the year! Both groups were in the very similar neighborhoods in the same type of small town USA, so everyone thought they would get similar fundraising profits.
The first group had just over 100 students. Everyone was excited about the upcoming fundraiser and chose to try a pretty popular fundraising product! Everyone was excited to get their fundraising program underway. The other school also had the same number of students. They chose to do the same fundraising program that the other group did! Even though they both were in similar areas they weren't anywhere near each other. So they did not compete for same the customers. Both groups decided to start the sale on the same day.
There really was only one difference in each school.
The first school decided to do their sale like they had been doing it for many years. The second school made one little change in "how" they ran their fundraiser. The first group finished the sales and made $1,450 in profit. They were very happy because this was about the same as they had been making for years! That is, they were happy until they heard about the second school's results. The first group finished the sales and raised $1,400! The little change that they made in the way they ran their fundraising campaign was so minor that few people from the other school could tell what it was.
It's not that it was a great secret scheme. There was nothing that went on that was underhanded. It was all out in the open for everyone to see. In fact, that is exactly why the second school did so well. It is because everyone knew about the secret change is why they did so much more in profit. But it still remains a mystery how that second school had such a big difference in their results? Hint: The answer is not in the profit percentage. In fact, the first group was offered a 3% discount for signing up early. So profit percentage is not the reason they made so much more money.
The answer will surprise you. You will probably think that it makes lots of sense when you understand what they did different. Because it's something you see every day, but for some reason most fundraising companies don't help their schools connect the dots and apply it to their fundraisers. I simply don't understand why, but that is how it is.
Well, actually I, do understand why. But there is nothing that I can do about all the other fundraisier companies but my own. The only thing I can do is make sure that my schools know what it is and how to do it at their school.
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